The management plan

The management plan sets out the protection, knowledge, promotion and sustainable development measures to be implemented in the marine nature park. It is based on the management focuses defined in the decree establishing the park. The management plan is a long-term instrument. Revision of it will only be compulsory after 15 years, but it will naturally be amended if the need arises.

The management plan, which is a veritable territorial project on the marine environment as:

It applies to an extensive maritime area,

It relies on all local stakeholders,

It contains long-term ambitions.

Each using our own skills and know-how, they have all contributed to preparing this document, such that they are all responsible for it. They will therefore be able to adopt and defend it, even though not all requests or proposals could be included.

A responsibility for good management

Good management will be the goal of the council at all times and must consistently guide their action. To be able to measure achievement of these goals and assess the relevance of all the action taken over time, the council has identified monitoring indicators adapted to each challenge or aim. These indicators will form the dashboard for the Marine Park on which we will be required to report. They will enable us to monitor our actions, base our opinions and justify our recommendations.

The management plan also sets out the management actions and measures the management council plan to take to achieve these objectives. However, as this document is a long-term tool, the council has therefore only established bases of action structured around four main themes:

Improving knowledge of the marine environment and uses,

Developing awareness actions or strengthening controls at sea,

Adapting supervisory measures to the challenges of the Iroise marine environment,

The technical or financial project support measures that contribute to achieving the management plan objectives.

Above and beyond these management measures, the legislation places great emphasis on the responsibility for good management of the Iroise Sea. Thus, on authority from the board of directors of the French Marine Protected Areas Agency, the management council is required to express an opinion of activities subject to authorization that could significantly alter the marine environment of the Park(1). This is a very important lever of intervention that we are given.For this first Marine Natural Park, it’s relevant to underline that the majority of management council members are local stakeholders and that its management plan is the product of their own thinking have been met.